Tampa Olympian Theresa Manuel will be honored Friday, Jan. 11th at halftime of the girls Blake-Middleton High School basketball game. The game begins at 6:30 p. m. at Middleton, 4801 N. 22nd St., with the schools’ boys game following at 8 p. m. Manuel had her 87th birthday January 7.

Manuel, a Middleton graduate who set records at Tuskegee Institute in the 1940s, ran track for the USA in the 1948 Olympic Games in London. She once scored 57 points in a single basketball game for the Tuskegee Tigers and became the first female Olympian from Florida.

She taught and coached at Middleton and Hillsborough High Schools, and both the Theresa Manuel Relays and the track at Middleton are named for her. She coached Middleton girls’ basketball team to two state championships.

Among those who joined her for a birthday celebration organized recently by Cousin Cynthia Flowers were: Joe Reid, Carolyn Collins, Theora Lester, Sylvester and Rose Harris, Dr. Idella Phillips, Marvin Martin, Sheila Murray, Jamael Couzens, J’Mya Taylor-Child, Tonisha Martin, Kareem Martin, James “DJ ROCK” Harrell, Willie Mae Sails Gregg, Shawn Dennis, Rey and Donna Robinson, Ravene and Rochelle Robinson, Alphonso Ball, Olivia DeVille, Dennet Sails, Michelle Coulferd,  Georgette Gardner Johnson, Dr. Aaron Smith, Herman Monroe,   Reginald Williams, Vivian Heyward, Denese Meteye James, Amja Saunders, Abiona Adadevoh, Anna Ellis, Nikiya Robertson, Dorothy Smith and Fred Hearns.